Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2016)
    Biomaterial Surfaces & Interfaces Monday Sessions
       Session BI-MoM

Invited Paper BI-MoM2
Genetic Level Programming of Molecular Assembly of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Monday, December 12, 2016, 8:20 am, Room Milo

Session: Buddy Ratner’s 70th Birthday Session
Presenter: Gabriel López, University of New Mexico, NSF Research Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Duke University, USA
Correspondent: Click to Email
A number of dynamic, protein-rich intracellular structures containing phase separated, unstructured proteins comprising low-complexity amino acid sequences have recently been shown to serve a variety of important cellular functions, including signaling, compartmentalization and stabilization. The understanding of these structures, and the ability to synthesize models of them, has been limited. This talk will present simple methods for programming diverse assemblies comprised of a series of elastin-like polypeptides, model intrinsically disordered proteins possessing sequences of low-complexity. By encoding the stimulus-induced aqueous phase behavior of proteins at the amino acid sequence level, we demonstrate the reversible formation of a variety of protein-rich structures, ranging from uniform nano-, meso-, and micro-scale puncta (small, distinct particulates) to multilayered, orthogonally-phase-separated, multicomponent microgranules. We further show how such nanoscale assemblies (i) can be stabilized by controlled biomineralization, (ii) can be used for simple bioassays for diagnostic or drug discovery applications, or (iii) can be used as building blocks for the hierarchical formation of micellar hydrogels with surprising mechanical properties and potential use in controlled delivery of nanoparticles for drug delivery applications. The talk is dedicated to Prof. Buddy Ratner, a mentor and friend of mine and of my collaborator, Prof Ashutosh Chilkoti, on the occasion of Buddy’s birthday this year.